In 2008–2009 I conducted doctoral research into how students about seventy transcribed thirty minute interviews. The ten renegotiate their membership of the school following a stand- students attended a range of schools from area, intermediate, down event. The study investigated the six months following year 7–13 and full secondary. Most of the students were rural stand-down for ten students in the middle school. The outcomes and attended mid to high decile schools. Of the ten students four of the study provide insight into specific actions both primary were in year eight at the time of the stand-down and the oldest and secondary principals can take to improve the potential for student was in year eleven. a seamless and permanent return to school. The two key areas that principals could focus on are utilising the mechanics of the The analysis home school relationship and resolving the in-school factors The analysis was organised by Wenger’s (1998) model of situated that contribute to the stand-down event. These two outcomes learning in communities of practice. Stand-down, by definition, restricts participation and are addressed separately later Wenger (1998) describes in this article. School is an early and safe participation and identity in Ministry of Education data an intrinsic relationship with on stand-down from school environment where children learn membership in communities (MOE, 2013) reveal that of practice. Stand-down, stand-down is used to address about social behaviour and particular types of behaviour rules that might be different to those t h e r e f o r e , a c c o r d i n g t o We nge r’s ( 1 9 9 8 ) m o d e l, that are unacceptable at school. must impact on both school The students in my study had at home. identity and membership. all behaved in ways that the school, they and their parents agreed were unacceptable. They Consequently, the return to school presents an opportunity to had hit other students, sworn at teachers, brought alcohol to renegotiate membership. The student’s success in renegotiating school and set fire to a friend’s dreadlock. Swearing at staff and school membership was framed by Wenger’s (1998) modes hitting other children disrupt learning and make other children of belonging. The degree to which the students talked about feel unsafe (Chaplain, 2003). Addressing issues of safety is an themselves and their parents and teachers talked about them in important function of school management. Just as important, terms of the modes of belonging to a school community defined though, is retaining children in school because of the relationship the success of the renegotiation. between school learning and the longer timescales of a person’s life (Lemke, 2000). School is an early and safe environment Results where children learn about social behaviour and rules that might This results section is in three parts. The first section provides be different to those at home; any stand-down event provides a brief summary of how the students in the study align with an opportunity for children to learn the consequences of not national statistics on stand-down. The second section discusses complying with rules. While continual disobedience is one of the significance of the home school relationship to this study and the most common reasons principals give for standing a student the third how uncovering and addressing context may reduce the down from school (MOE, 2013), is sending a child home an risk of future stand-downs and suspensions. In this analysis the students are referred to using the names they chose for the study. effective way to teach children compliance? These were Ben, Bob, Cherish, Elephant, George, Mara, Mark, The study Missy, Mr Smith and Tui. Their parents and teachers are referred This study investigated the return to school following stand- to by the student’s name e.g. Tui’s teacher. Principals and senior down of ten students in one New Zealand province. Each student, teachers were given numbers in accordance with their entry to together with a parent and a teacher, were interviewed twice six the study: e.g. ST1 was the first senior teacher interviewed. months apart. The principal of the school and the senior teacher who investigated the incident were interviewed once. Parents, A bunch of characters students and teachers were asked identical questions about how Initially the ten students appear to align with national statistics stand-down affected the student while principals and senior on stand-down from school. Nationally there are about 2.5 times teachers were asked questions about how they use stand-down as many boys stood-down as girls and, in this study, there were to manage behaviour. Consequently the analysis was based on seven boys and three girls. Ethnicity also followed the national
statistics with four Māori, one Pasifika and five European/pakeha students. The stand-down experiences of these ten students, however, provide extra insight into the annual stand-down statistics. According to the Ministry 78 per cent of students are only stood down once in a year (MOE 2013). This was generally true for this group but over their school careers eight of the ten students also had multiple stand-downs. In addition, while they weren’t stood-down again two were suspended and two left school within the six months of the study. Ministry of Education statistics also draw attention to the imbalance of stand-downs that occurs between low and high decile schools. Although most of these students attended mid to high decile schools the majority were from low income households. This suggests that low income may be a more significant risk factor in stand-down than is indicated in Ministry data. Finally and most important for primary principals is that, while primary schools have low numbers of stand-down events according to Ministry data, a significant proportion of the students in the study had accumulated histories of stand-down from primary school and, except in Tui’s case, it was these students who found renegotiation of school membership most difficult. Purposeful home school relationships The most important outcome of this research was that enabling and promoting purposeful home school relationships enhanced and consolidated the return to school. Furthermore productive relationships were particularly relevant to reintegration for low income, Māori and Pasifika students. Of the ten students in the study four parents initiated specific school interventions following their child’s stand-down. Their children: Mara, Missy,
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Mr Smith and Tui all settled back into school, remained in school and achieved in school terms. Their renegotiated membership can be heard in the way teachers refer to the modes of belonging to the school as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998). Mara’s teacher expects her to ‘be head girl’, Missy teacher remarked she sang at Prize giving and Tui’s teacher plans a celebration with Tui’s family when he passes his NCEA level 1. Mr Smith was different to the other three students whose parents helped them renegotiate their school membership. Mr Smith’s father was an old boy of the school, knew the principal and called him by name. This established, positive relationship was significant to how Mr Smith’s parents were able to address the issues and enable a smooth reintegration. Mara, Missy and Tui came from low income, Māori and Pasifika households. Mara’s and Missy’s mothers report a history of stand-downs and suspensions for their older children and Tui’s father a significant history of stand-down for Tui. Each of these three parents constructed a purposeful, targeted intervention that addressed the issue at hand that was contributing to their child’s unacceptable behaviour. All three parents took advantage of an existing relationship with the school and each was operating in a first time school exclusion environment with that child. Tui, for example, had just moved to a new school to live with his father and Mara’s was her first stand-down. Tui’s father set up an email exchange with the year dean where an already positive relationship existed with Tui’s older brother. Mara’s mother approached a sport’s coach for advice and Missy’s the deputy principal who had taught Missy’s older brother. While Tui’s father wanted to put a stop to Tui’s irresponsible behaviour e.g. setting fire to his friend’s dreadlock, Mara’s and Missy’s mothers targeted their interventions to factors external but contributing to the behaviour. Mara had been being bullied by a girl in her class and was truanting. Missy was also being bullied by a group of girls in her class. Both parents engineered a class change for their daughters and as a consequence there were no more stand-downs. The experiences and actions of these parents show the advantages of engaging with parents in a collaborative and purposeful way following a stand-down event. First stand-downs have the benefit of a fresh page and identifying existing positive school relationships the opportunity to establish a supportive environment for problem solving. Addressing context For each child each stand-down came from a context that contained a problem. A collaborative, home school interaction identified and resolved these problems for four students but this did not happen for the six who did not remain in school. Each context included critical factors that either affected the student’s ability to access the curriculum or to maintain membership of pro-social friendship groups. There were a high proportion of children with moderate special education needs like reading and processing difficulties, ADHD, possible ASD and Anxiety. Most were boys who admitted they would misbehave in class so that they didn’t look ‘stupid’ with their mates. Children in the study with behavioural conditions like ASD and ADHD not only found it difficult to access the curriculum, their inability to fit in also made them isolated and vulnerable. This study, therefore, revealed the importance to children of fitting in as an adjunct to being ready to learn. While being isolated, being bullied and being stood-down seemed to go together in this study, having friends made the students feel safe at school. All of the stand-down incidents
were associated in some way with friendships. In addition a significant number of the stand-down events could be directly attributed to students using non legitimate strategies to resolve bullying. Mara, for example, punched the girl who had been bullying her on Bebo for a year and got stood-down. Bob threw chairs and swore at teachers to be removed from a class where he was bullied. The sort of incident that prompts a decision to stand-down, therefore, presents an opportunity to examine context and identify bullying and other relationship issues with students. School personnel in the study, however, defined bullying incorrectly as individual incidents of assault. Those students particularly who were perceived by teachers as obese were named as bullies though, while they hit out or swore, they were actually recipients of bullying. Principals could take advantage of this information by ensuring all school personnel are aware that bullying exists in uneven power relationships, is repeated and intended to harm. Finally understanding the return to school through applying Wenger’s (1998) modes of belonging to membership of friendship groups may improve the student’s potential to remain in school.
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Conclusion Purposeful, collaborative, home school relationships, therefore, appear a positive way forward to ensure the return to school is seamless and enduring. Some parents find initiating engagement with the school difficult so some strategic planning on effective ways to initiate collaborative discussions with home could be a useful tool. Taking advantage of other already established positive school relationships appears to present an opportunity. Standdown events are also likely to occur in conjunction with either
temporary or long term periods of isolation at school. Strategies that address these isolation contexts and strengthen the child’s position relative to understandings of modes of belonging to the school may prove useful. Finally strategies that reposition the student within a group of friends may also improve the potential for the return to be enduring and trouble free. References 1. Chaplain, R. (2003). Teaching Without Disruption in the Secondary School: A Model for Managing Student Behaviour. London. Routledge. 2. Lemke, J. (2000). Across the scales of time: artifacts, activities and meanings in eco-social systems. Mind Culture and Activity, 7 (4), 273–290. 3. Ministry of Education (MOE) (2013). Stand-downs from school. Accessed at http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/indicators/ main/student-engagement-participation/80346 4. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge. Cambridge University press. About the Author Dr Patty Towl is an ex high school principal whose teaching experience is with middle school students with moderate, special education, learning and behaviour needs. Her doctoral research investigated the return to school following a stand-down event. She would like to find out more about the resources schools need to make every stand-down event a learning experience for children. Contact for responses to this article phtowl@gmail.com